For the Love of Cardinals

The year 2010 was a pretty insignificant year as far as Cardinal baseball is concerned. They didn't make the playoffs and ended the year with Yadi and Waino both injured. However, for some strange reason, during the offseason my interest in the Cardinals grew immensely. Don't get me wrong, I had been a Red Bird fan ever since I could walk. It was a special treat, as a seven year old, getting to stay up late several nights in the summer of 1998, to see if Mark McGwire would beat Sammy Sosa to Roger Maris's single season home run record. (I even wrote about it in my Winnie the Pooh diary the night it finally happened!)

Two members of the 1934 Gas House Gang.

But for some reason, the offseason of 2010 was just different.

I drowned myself with learning the history of the St. Louis Cardinals. From the Gas House Gang to the night Yadier Molina made Shea Stadium go silent, from the Knothole Gang to the reason seat cushions are rarely a give-away at Busch Stadium, from the legends Stan "the Man" Musial and Red Schoendienst to the then rookie, David Freese, from Jack Buck’s, "Go crazy, folks!" to Mike Shannon’s "Get up, baby, get up!" from the importance of Hornsby and .424, Gibson and 1.12, and Brock and 118, I simply couldn't get enough. I read every article the St. Louis Cardinals posted on their website that winter. All the while, I could tell my dad was enjoying passing on his knowledge of his beloved team to his daughter. Little did I know the coming season was going to be one I’d never forget.